different between plaque vs plack

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French plaque (“plate, sheet (of metal); slab (of marble); bacteria on teeth”), from French plaquer, Middle French plaquer (“to plate”), from Middle Dutch placken (“to patch, beat metal into a thin plate”), from placke (“disk, patch, stain”), from Old Dutch *plagga (“patch”), from Proto-Germanic *plagg? (“patch”).

The word is cognate with Middle Low German placke, plagge (“small stain, scraps, rags, thin grass”), German Placken (“spot, patch”), Saterland Frisian plak, plakke (“a blow, slap”), Swedish plagg (“clothing, garment”). Compare plack.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pl??k/, /plæk/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /plak/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /plæk/, [p?l?æk]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pla?k/
• Rhymes: -??k, -ak, -æk, -a?k

Noun

plaque (countable and uncountable, plural plaques)

1. (countable) Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab, etc., hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn by a person, such as a brooch.
2. (countable) A piece of flat metal with writing on it, attached to a building, monument, or other structure to remind people of a person or an event.
3. (countable) A small card representing an amount of money, used for betting in casinos; a sort of gaming chip.
4. (countable, biology) A clearing in a bacterial lawn caused by a virus.
5. (countable, music) In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system: any flat, thin musical instrument.

6. (countable, pathology) A broad patch of abnormal tissue distinguishable from surrounding tissue, especially a broad papule (“inflamed, irritated patch”) on the skin.
7. (countable, uncountable, pathology) An abnormal accumulation of material in or on an organ of the body, often associated with disease.
   1. (countable, uncountable, pathology) An accumulation in artery walls made up of macrophage cells and debris containing lipids, (cholesterol and fatty acids), calcium, and connective tissue; an atheroma.
   2. (uncountable, dentistry) An accumulation of biofilm, or bacteria, on teeth.

Derived terms

Related terms

• placard
• placula
• plaquet

Translations

References

Further reading

• commemorative plaque on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dental plaque on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• plaque (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Middle Dutch placken (“to patch, beat metal into a thin plate”), from placke (“disk, patch, stain”), from *Old Dutch plagga (“patch”), from Proto-Germanic *plagg? (“patch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plak/
• Rhymes: -ak

Noun

plaque f (plural plaques)

1. sheet, plate (of metal)
2. slab (of marble)
3. (medicine) plaque (bacteria on teeth)

4. plaque, slab (ornamental)
5. (casino) chip

   Synonym: jeton

6. (electrics, photography) plate
7. (geology) plate (especially a tectonic plate)
8. slab, bar (of e.g. chocolate)
9. (slang) 10,000 francs

   Synonyms: brique, bâton

10. burner; ring (element on a kitchen stove that generates localized heat for cooking)

Derived terms

Verb

plaque

1. first-person singular present indicative of plaquer
2. third-person singular present indicative of plaquer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of plaquer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of plaquer
5. second-person singular imperative of plaquer

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: placa

Further reading

• “plaque” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Verb

plaque

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of placar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of placar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of placar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of placar.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plæk/, [p?l?æk]
• (UK) IPA^(key): /plak/, [p?l?ak]

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch placke (“name of a coin”). Cognate with Old High German pleh, bleh (“thin leaf of metal, plate”). Compare plaque.

Noun

plack (plural placks)

1. (obsolete) A coin used in the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries. [15th-17th c.]
2. (Scotland, Northern England, historical) A coin issued by James III of Scotland; also a 15th-16th century Scottish coin worth four Scots pennies. [from 15th c.]
   • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford 2010, p. 49:

     ‘Yes, I prayed you to grant my life, which is in your power. The saving of it would not have cost you a plack, yet you refused to do it.’

Etymology 2

Noun

plack

1. Misspelling of plaque.

Scots

Etymology

Probably from West Flemish placke (“small coin”), related to French plaque, Medieval Latin placa. See English plaque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plak/

Noun

plack (plural placks)

1. (historical) plack

   And than, besides his valiant acts, / At bridals he won many placks. (Robert Sempill, ‘The Piper of Kilbarchan’)